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Monday, June 15, 2015

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
Today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace the Holy Father received in
audience the president of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel
Santos Calderon, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of
State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary
for Relations with States.

During the cordial discussions the good
relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Colombia were
evoked, underlining the contribution the Catholic Church has given
and continues to guarantee in favour of the human, social and
cultural progress of the population. Among the issues considered,
special attention was given to the state of the reconciliation
process in the country, the complexity of the negotiations that this
entails, and the prospects that could open the way to achieving a
peace agreement.

Finally, there was an exchange of views
on the regional political and social situation, with attention to the
efforts made towards promoting stability in the countries of the
area, their harmonious and equitable development, and a culture of
legality.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
The lands of the Middle East, marred by years of conflict, are also
“marked by the footprints of those who seek refuge and soaked with
the blood of many men and women, including numerous Christians
persecuted for their faith”, said the Holy Father as he received in
audience the members of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental
Churches (ROACO), a year after their pilgrimage and Francis' plea for
peace in the region, when all hoped that “the seed of
reconciliation would have borne greater fruits”.

Recalling the recent trip to Iraq by a
delegation of the ROACO, during which they met with displaced persons
from the Nineveh Plain and with small groups from Syria, the Pope
affirmed, “in those eyes that asked for help and pleaded for peace
and to return home there was Jesus Himself Who looked at you, asking
for that charity that makes us Christians. Every form of assistance,
so as not to fall into the trap of uncompromising efficiency or mere
aid that does not promote persons or peoples, must always be reborn
from this blessing of the Lord Who reaches us when we have the
courage to look at the situations and the brothers before us”.

Nevertheless, “the world seems to
have become aware of the tragedy of recent months, and has opened its
eyes, taking account of the millennial presence of Christians in the
Middle East. Initiatives for raising awareness and offering aid to
them to to others unjustly affected by violence have flourished.
However, further efforts must be made to eliminate what would appear
to be tacit agreements by which the lives of thousands and thousands
of families – women, men, children, elderly – in the balance of
interests appear to weigh less than petroleum and weapons, and while
peace and justice is proclaimed, it is accepted that the traffickers
of death act in those lands. I therefore encourage you, as you carry
out your service of Christian charity, to condemn all that tramples
human dignity”.

The Holy Father mentioned that in these
days ROACO is dedicating special attention to Ethiopia, Eritrea and
Armenia. “The first two, from this year, canonically constitute two
separate realities, inasmuch as they are metropolitan sui generis
Churches, but they remain profoundly linked by their common
Alexandrian-Gheez tradition”. He urged the ROACO “to help these
ancient Christian communities to feel that they are members in the
evangelical mission and to offer, especially to the young, prospects
of hope and growth. Without this, it will not be possible to stop the
migratory flow in which so many sons and daughters of the region set
out to reach the Mediterranean coasts, risking their lives”.
Armenia, “cradle of the first nation to receive baptism, also has a
great history rich in culture, faith and martyrdom. Support for the
Church in that land contributes to the path towards the visible unity
of all believers in Christ”.

The Pope concluded by dedicating to the
Oriental Catholic Churches some words from St. Ephrem's Hymn of
Resurrection: “Accept, our King, our offering, and give us in
return our salvation. Pacify devastated lands and rebuild the
burned-down churches so that, when there will be great peace, we may
weave a great crown from flowers from all places, so that the Lord of
peace may be crowned”.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
This morning Pope Francis received in audience the representatives of
the Czech Hussite Church and the Evangelical Church of Czech
Brethren, in Rome to celebrate a liturgy of reconciliation on the
occasion of the 600 th anniversary of the reformer Jan Hus,
distinguished preacher and rector of the University of Prague, whose
execution was lamented by St. John Paul II in 1999, who included him
among the reformers of the Church.

“In the light of this consideration”,
said Francis, “it is necessary to continue our studies of the
figure and work of Jan Hus, which has long been a matter of
controversy between Christians, but which has today become a reason
for dialogue. This research, conducted without any form of
ideological conditioning, will be an important service to historical
truth, to all Christians and to society as a whole, even beyond your
national borders”.

“Today's meeting gives us the
opportunity to renew and deepen the relations between our
communities”, he added. “Many disputes of the past ask to be
revisited in the light of the new context in which we live, and
agreements and convergences will be reached if we face the
traditional conflictual questions with a new outlook. Above all, we
cannot forget that the shared profession of faith in God the Father,
in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, in which we have been baptised,
already unites us in bonds of authentic fraternity”.

“Vatican Council II affirmed that
'every renewal of the Church is essentially grounded in an increase
of fidelity to her own calling. Undoubtedly this is the basis of the
movement toward unity. … Church renewal has therefore notable
ecumenical importance'. Nowadays, in particular, the need for a new
evangelisation of many men and women who seem indifferent to the
joyful news of the Gospel makes it urgent to renovate every ecclesial
structure so as to promote a positive response from all those to whom
Jesus offers His friendship. And visible communion between Christians
will certainly make this announcement more credible”.

“Responding to the call of Christ to
continual conversion, of which we are all in need, we can progress
together on the path of reconciliation and peace. Along this road let
us learn, by God's grace, to recognise each other as friends and to
consider the motivations of others in the best light possible. In
this sense I hope that bonds of friendship may develop also at the
level of local and parish communities. With these sentiments, I join
spiritually in the penitential liturgy you will celebrate here in
Rome”, concluded the Holy Father. “May God, rich in mercy, grant
us the grace to recognise ourselves all as sinners and to know how to
forgive each other”.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday afternoon in St. Peter's Square Pope Francis inaugurated
the ecclesial Congress of the diocese of Rome, whose theme this year
is: “For what I received I passed on to you – we parents,
witnesses to the beauty of life”. The meeting began with greetings
from Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar of His Holiness for the diocese
of Rome, and a prayer invoking the Holy Spirit. The Holy Father went
on to address some off-the-cuff remarks to the families, catechists,
priests and pastoral workers present, extensive extracts of which are
given below.

“Our city must be reborn, morally and
spiritually, as it seems as if everything is the same, that
everything is relative; that the Gospel is a beautiful story about
good things, pleasant to read, but which remains simply an idea. It
does not touch the heart! Our city needs this rebirth. And this
commitment is so important when we talk about educating children and
young people, for which you as parents are responsible”.

“This evening I would like to reflect
with you on a few simple words that express the mystery of being
parents. I do not know if I will manage to say all I want to say, but
I would at least like to speak about vocation, communion and
mission”.

“The first word is mission. St. Paul
wrote that all paternity derives from God, and we can also add all
maternity. We are all sons and daughters, but becoming a father or
mother is a calling from God! It is a calling from God: it is a
vocation. God is eternal love, which gives ceaselessly and calls us
to existence. It is a mystery that, however, Providence wished to
entrust in particular to man and woman, called upon to love each
other entirely and without reserve, cooperating with God in this love
and in transmitting life to their children. The Lord has chosen you
to love each other and to transmit life. Your children, dear parents,
need to discover, looking at your life, that loving each other is
good. Never forget that your children are always watching you.
Children, before living in a house made of bricks, inhabit another
house, even more essential: they live in the mutual love of their
parents”.

“The second word, the second thought
on which I would like to reflect is communion. … Being parents is
based on the diversity of being male and female, as the Bible reminds
us. This is the 'first' and most fundamental difference, constitutive
of the human being. It is a wealth. Differences are wealth. … We
men learn to recognise, through the female figures we encounter in
life, the extraordinary beauty that women bear. And women follow a
similar path, learning from male figures that the man is different
and has his own way of feeling, understanding and living. And this
communion in difference is very important also in the education of
children”.

“It is very painful when a family
lives in a state of tension that cannot be resolved, when there is a
fracture that cannot be healed. It is painful. When there are the
first signs of this, a father and a mother are duty bound, for
themselves and for their children, to ask for help, to seek support.
… And even when by now separation – we must also speak of this –
seems inevitable, know that the Church carries you in her heart. And
that your educative task is not interrupted: you are and will always
be father and mother, that cannot live together because there are
wounds and problems. Please, always seek understanding,
collaboration, harmony for the good and the happiness of your
children”.

“And the gift of marriage, which is
so beautiful, also has a mission. A mission that is very important.
You are collaborators of the Holy Spirit Who whispers the words of
Jesus! Be this way for your children. Be missionaries of your
children! They will learn from your words and your life that to
follow the Lord brings enthusiasm, the wish to give oneself to
others, always to give hope, even when faced with difficulties and
pain, because we are never alone, but always with the Lord and with
our brethren”.

“I would not like to finish without
offering a word to grandparents, who are the wisdom of the people,
who are the memory of the people, who are the wisdom of the family.
The grandparents who saved the faith in many countries where it was
forbidden to practice religion and took children to be secretly
baptised; and the grandparents who taught them how to pray”.

Vatican City, 14 June 2015 (VIS) –
The effectiveness of the Word of God and the needs of His Kingdom,
which are the reasons for our hope and our efforts throughout history
were the theme of the Pope's reflection before today's Sunday
Angelus. To the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square,
Francis explained the two brief parables from the Gospel: the seed
that grows in the earth alone and the tiny mustard seed that becomes
the largest plant.

“In the first parable, our attention
is placed on the fact that the seed, thrown on the ground, takes root
and develops by itself, whether the farmer sleeps or is awake. The
farmer trusts in the inner strength of the seed itself and of the
fertility of the ground. In the language of the Gospel, the seed is
the symbol of the Word of God, Whose fruitfulness is recalled by this
parable. Just as the humble seed that develops in the ground, so the
Word operates with God's power in the heart of those who listen. God
entrusted His Word to our earth, that is, to each one of us with out
concrete humanity”.

The second parable uses the image of
the mustard seed that, despite being the smallest of the seeds, grows
to become “the largest of plants”. “Thus is the Kingdom of God:
a humanly small and apparently irrelevant reality. To become a part
of it, one must be poor of heart; not trusting in one's own
abilities, but rather in the power of God's love; not acting so as to
be important in the eyes of the world, but precious in the eyes of
God, who prefers the simple and the humble. When we live like this,
the strength of Christ erupts through us and transforms what is small
and modest into a reality that leavens the entire mass of the world
and of history”.

The teaching of these two parables,
Francis underlined, is that the Kingdom of God requires our
collaboration, but it is above all the initiative and gift of the
Lord. “Our feeble work, seemingly small faced with the complexity
of the problems of the world, if embedded into that of God, no longer
fears difficulty. The victory of the Lord is sure: His love will lead
every seed of good present on the earth to germinate and grow. It
opens us up to trust and hope, despite the tragedies, injustice and
suffering we encounter. The seed of good and of peace germinates and
develops because it is ripened by the merciful love of God”.

“May the Holy Virgin, who received as
'fertile earth' the seed of the divine Word, sustain us in this hope
that never lets us down”.

Vatican City, 14 June 2015 (VIS) –
Following today's Angelus prayer, the Pope announced that on Thursday
18 June, his encyclical “Laudato Sii: on the care of our common
home” will be published, and he invited all those present to
accompany the event “with renewed attention to situations of
environmental degradation, but also of recovery, in your territories.
This encyclical is addressed to all: let us pray that all receive its
message and grow in responsibility towards the common home that God
has entrusted to us all”.

On the World Blood Donor Day Francis
thanked “the millions of people who contribute … to helping their
brothers in difficulty”, and he invited young people to follow
their example.

He also greeted the group present in
St. Peter's Square that remembers all missing persons, and assured
them of his prayers. Likewise, he expressed his closeness to “all
those workers who defend the right to work with solidarity: it is a
right to dignity!”.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
Seventy five children and young people from the Association of
Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts (AGESCI) from all over the
peninsula gathered in St. Peter's Square from the early hours of
this morning to meet the Pope, who shortly after 11 a.m. toured the
square to greet them, warmly embracing many.

“You are a valuable part of the
Church in Italy”, Francis said, praising “the goodness and wisdom
of the scouting method, based on great human values, on contact with
nature, religiosity and faith in God; a method that educates in
freedom and responsibility”. “When asked, 'How does religion
enter into scouting?', your founder Lord Baden-Powell answered that
is did not need to 'enter' since it was already a part of it. There
is no religious 'side' of the movement – or a non-religious one.
The whole of it is based on religion, that is, on the realisation and
service of God”.

Associations such as yours are a wealth
for the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit to evangelise all
environments and sectors. I am sure that AGESCI can bring to the
Church a new evangelical zeal and a new capacity for dialogue with
society. Take heed: capacity for dialogue! Make bridges in this
society where there is the tendency to build walls. Build bridges
through dialogue. And this can happen only on one condition: that the
single groups do not lose contact with the parish where they are
based, but which in many cases do not attend as, although they carry
out their service there, they come from other areas”.

The bishop of Rome, who spoke in a
colloquial manner with those present, urged them to aim at finding a
way of integrating themselves into the pastoral ministry of the
particular Church, “establishing relationships of respect and
collaboration at all levels with your bishops, parish priests and
other clergy, with educators and members of other ecclesial
associations present in the parish and in the same territory, and not
settling for a 'decorative' presence on Sundays or on other major
occasions”.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
This morning in the Clementine Hall the Pope received in audience the
two hundred members of the newly-recomposed High Council of the
Italian Magistrature (CSM). During his address, Pope Francis spoke
about the complexity of legislation in current times and the variety
of cases which must be responded to, bearing in mind the phenomenon
of globalisation that may at times be a vehicle for concepts and
norms far from the roots of a given social fabric.

“In this context of deep shocks to
cultural roots, it is important for the public authorities, including
those of a legal nature, to use the space allocated to them to
provide stability and to make the foundations of human co-existence
more solid through the recovery of fundamental values”.

Starting from these bases, it is
possible to effectively counteract phenomena such as “the spread of
criminality, even in its economic and financial forms, and the
scourge of corruption, which affects even the most evolved
democracies”. Therefore, “it is necessary to intervene not only
at the moment of repression, but also in an educational way,
addressing in particular the new generations, offering an
anthropology and a model of life able to respond to the highest and
most profound aspirations of the human heart”.

All those in legal office “contribute
to this work of construction, on the front line”, the Pope
continued. “Although magistrates are required to intervene in the
presence of a violation of the law, it is also true that the
reaffirmation of the rule is not an act directed solely at the single
person, but rather goes beyond the individual case to affect the
community as a whole. In this sense, every judicial pronouncement
goes beyond the single procedure, opening up to become an opportunity
for all the community ('the people', in whose name the sentence is
pronounced) to assume this rule, to reaffirm its value and in this
way, even more importantly, to identify with it”.

“In our times, and rightly so,
particular emphasis is given to the issue of human rights, which
constitute the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of the
essential dignity of man. This must be done without abusing this
category, for instance by allowing practices and forms of behaviour
that, instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, in reality
threaten or even violate it. Justice is not done in an abstract
sense, but rather by always considering the person in terms of his or
her real value, as a being created in the image of God and called
upon to be, here on earth, His semblance”.

The Holy Father concluded by mentioning
Vittorio Bachelet, the deputy president of the CSM assassinated by
the Red Brigades in 1980, and he invited the magistrates to follow
his example “as a man, as a Christian and and a jurist in serving
justice and the common good”.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
Today the homily in Spanish pronounced by the Pope last Friday in the
Basilica of St. John Lateran during the Third Worldwide Priests'
Retreat, organised by the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Services (ICCRS) and the Catholic Fraternity, dedicated to the theme
“Called to sanctity for the new evangelisation” based on the
apostolic exhortation “Evangelii gaudium”. Before the Eucharistic
celebration, the Holy Father reflected with those present on the
theme “Transformed by love and for love”, and answered five
questions from attendees. The following is an extract from the
homily, which focused on God's tenderness.

“How good it is to listen to God Who
teaches me to progress, the Almighty Who stoops down to me and
teaches me to walk. … And God's closeness is this tenderness: He
taught me to walk, and without Him I would not know how to walk in
the Spirit.

“How often I think that we are afraid
of God's tenderness, and since we are afraid of God's tenderness, we
do not allow ourselves to experience Him and as a result are at times
hard, harsh and punishing; we are pastors without tenderness. What
does Jesus tell us in Luke Chapter 15, about that pastor who noticed
that he had only ninety-nine sheep and that one was missing? He
locked them up safely and went looking for the other one, which was
entangled in thorns. He did not hit or reprimand her; he took her in
his arms, put her on his shoulders, took her home and healed her. Do
you do likewise with your parishioners, when you notice that one is
missing from the flock, or are we accustomed to being a Church with
one sheep in the flock and ninety-nine lost on the mountain?

“Today I ask you during this retreat
to be pastors with God's tenderness, to leave the whip in the
sacristy and to be tender pastors, even with those who cause you the
most problems. It is a grace, it is a divine grace. We do not believe
in an ethereal God – we believe in a God made flesh, with a heart,
and this heart says to us today, 'they come to me if they are tired,
overwhelmed, and I soothe them; treat my little ones with tenderness,
with the same tenderness with which I treat them”. The heart of
Christ tells us this today, and it is what I ask of you and of myself
in this Mass today”.

During the Eucharistic celebration the
Pope entrusted the missionary mandate to the priests.

Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) –
The President of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Professor
Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree of 6 June
2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the
Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic
nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski. The first hearing
of the trial is scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused
of a number of offences committed both during his stay in Rome from
August 2013 until the moment of his arrest (on 22 September 2014) and
in the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five
years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio (he was
appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and
apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on
21 August 2013).

With regard to the period spent in
Rome, the nuncio is charged with the offence of possession of child
pornography under Law VIII of 2013 introduced by Pope Francis. The
allegations referring to the preceding period are based on evidence
transmitted by the judicial authorities of the Dominican Republic in
relation to the sexual abuse of minors.

These serious allegations will be
scrutinised by the competent judicial body which will be assisted by
both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by the defendant
and, if necessary, international legal cooperation for the evaluation
of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in the
Dominican Republic. This will be a delicate and detailed procedure,
requiring the most careful observations and insights from all parties
involved in the trial.

- accepted the resignation from the
pastoral care of the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis,
U.S.A., presented by Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, in accordance with
canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He has appointed
Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, coadjutor of Newark, U.S.A., as
apostolic administrator “sede vacante” of the Saint Paul and
Minneapolis.

- appointed Archbishop Petar Rajic,
currently apostolic nuncio in Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates and apostolic delegate to the Arabian Peninsula,
as apostolic nuncio in Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.

On Saturday 13 June, the Holy Father
appointed Fr. Wieslaw Spiewak, C.R., as bishop of Hamilton (area 54,
population 64,237, Catholics 9,340, priests 6, religious 2), Bermuda.
The bishop-elect was born in Krakow, Poland in 1963 and was ordained
a priest in 1990. He holds a master's degree in theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and a licentiate in spiritual
theology from the Salesian Fathers in Rome. He has served in a number
of roles within the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, and is currently provincial superior in Poland and a
member of the Episcopal Commission for migrants. He succeeds Bishop
Robert Joseph Lurtz, C.R., whose resignation from the pastoral care
of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the
Holy Father.